When Catherine “Cat” Fulmer Hogan learned she had been selected as Hopewell Valley’s Volunteer of the Year, her first reaction wasn’t excitement about receiving an award.
It was discomfort.
For someone whose community work has centered on lifting up the voices of others, being the focus of attention was not something she particularly welcomed. But at the Hopewell Valley Mayor’s Breakfast on Friday, Oct. 16, Fulmer Hogan found a way to turn the recognition into an opportunity for local children and teenagers to tell community leaders what they need.
“I realize that I need to seize every opportunity to amplify the work that I’m involved in, because I believe it’s important,” she told the audience. “I believe it matters, and I have seen both quantitatively and qualitatively that some of this work, particularly the LGBTQIA+ advocacy work, has the potential to save lives.”
Fulmer Hogan received the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance’s 2026 Volunteer of the Year Award during the annual breakfast, which brought together educators, nonprofit organizations, community members and all three Hopewell Valley mayors: Hopewell Township’s David Chait, Hopewell Borough’s Ryan Kennedy and Pennington’s James Davy.
The event also marked the 30th anniversary of the alliance’s Healthy Communities, Healthy Youth Initiative.
A commitment to making room for others
Fulmer Hogan’s community involvement spans LGBTQIA+ advocacy, racial equity, education and youth support. She serves as president of the board of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (SSAAM) and has been involved with Hope Rises Up.
Her work includes organizing annual daylong LGBTQIA+ educational conferences that bring together educators, advocates and community members to address issues affecting LGBTQIA+ individuals and families.
Anita Williams Galiano, president of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education and executive director of SSAAM, introduced Fulmer Hogan at the breakfast.
The two have been friends for years, and as SSAAM’s board president, Fulmer Hogan also oversees the organization where Williams Galiano serves as executive director.
“She is the type of person who wakes up and puts a mission suit on,” Williams Galiano said, describing a friend who recognizes gaps in community support and brings people together to address them.
Williams Galiano pointed to the LGBTQIA+ conference series, which began because Fulmer Hogan saw a need for more education and conversation.
“She did not want to be the voice; she just wanted to create the space for the voices to exist,” Williams Galiano said.
She also highlighted Fulmer Hogan’s persistence in other community efforts, including advocacy for traffic safety improvements along Route 31.
A personal story of showing up
Hopewell Valley Regional School District Superintendent Rosetta Treece offered a deeply personal example of Fulmer Hogan’s impact.
In 2017, during Treece’s first year as principal of Timberlane Middle School, her son, who was serving in the Air Force, died by suicide.
As Treece and her husband made funeral arrangements, Fulmer Hogan joined a group of community members and educators who organized music for the local service. Treece recalled the group arriving with musicians and singing “I Believe I Can Fly” for her family.
At the time, Treece barely knew Fulmer Hogan.
“You came and did that for my family, and then you just left without even a thank you,” Treece said.
She described Fulmer Hogan as someone who steps forward when others need support without expecting recognition.
“She’s the kind of parent every school leader hopes for,” Treece said. “She puts students first, all students.”
Giving young people the microphone
When it was her turn to speak, Fulmer Hogan acknowledged that she had prepared something unconventional.
Rather than recounting her accomplishments, she had spoken with children and teenagers throughout the community, ranging in age from 5 to 18, and promised to protect their identities.
The young people included students receiving special education or mental health services, members of racial minority groups, LGBTQIA+ students and children from less-represented faith traditions.
She asked what they wanted the mayors, school administrators, elected officials and other adults shaping their community to understand.
“What do you want them to understand about what you face? What do you hope for, and most importantly, what do you need?” she asked.
Their responses became the heart of her acceptance speech.
Some young people, she reported, did not feel emotionally safe or fully accepted in their schools and community. They described feeling targeted because of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities or learning differences.
But Fulmer Hogan also shared what was working.
Students spoke positively about affinity groups at Timberlane Middle School and Hopewell Valley Central High School, where they felt respected and supported by peers and faculty advisers. Theater, choir, color guard and marching band were also mentioned as places where students found belonging.
Many expressed a desire for more places outside school and home where they could gather, build friendships and feel comfortable being themselves.
Fulmer Hogan also shared concerns about how schools address discrimination. Rather than broad messages encouraging kindness, some students wanted adults to address racism, homophobia, ableism and sexism more directly.
“They feel like adults sometimes think these things are too heavy for kids, but they are living and carrying it every single day,” Fulmer Hogan said.
A community recognizes her work
All three Hopewell Valley mayors spoke at the breakfast, recognizing the Municipal Alliance’s work and Fulmer Hogan’s contributions.
Chait highlighted her work with Hope Rises Up, SSAAM and local history initiatives, including the Witness Stones Project, while Kennedy recalled participating in candlelight gatherings she organized.
“There’s not many instances where I’ve had an opportunity, or been compelled or brought to hold a candle for a cause, and the only instances I can think of are ones that you’ve organized,” Kennedy said.
Davy thanked Fulmer Hogan for her service and emphasized the importance of cooperation among the three municipalities, schools and community organizations.
Fulmer Hogan also received recognition from the New Jersey Legislature, with a resolution honoring her service and leadership. State Sen. Shirley Turner, who was unable to attend, sent her congratulations.
The breakfast, sponsored by Capital Health, marked three decades of the Healthy Communities, Healthy Youth Initiative, which connects schools, municipalities, families and community organizations around the well-being of local young people.
But Fulmer Hogan returned the focus to the children and teenagers whose voices she had brought to the podium.
“The work being done around bias, LGBTQ plus advocacy, mental health support, drug and alcohol abuse education is crucial,” she said. “Please keep supporting the work. It is truly an investment in our children.”
She acknowledged that her remarks had not sounded much like an acceptance speech.
That was intentional.
And before leaving the podium, she shared one final message from the youngest child she had interviewed, a 5-year-old who had something important he wanted the assembled community leaders to hear.
“He says, ‘Hello.’”
